Trauma-Induced Depression
I recently found an article that is extremely insightful. Sometimes we believe that trauma is comes from events such as the death of a loved one, a car accident, getting seriously hurt, etc… In fact, trauma can be anything that sends our nervous system into survival mode. During a traumatic event, the nervous system […]
Marriage Under Fire! For Helping Spouses
I believe that one of the toughest challenges with depression and anxiety and chaos can come to the spouses of those who are suffering. Sometimes it just becomes too much. I’ve heard it referred to as “caretaker fatigue.” And rightly so. Countless marriages continue to be challenged because one spouse is dealing with emotional difficulties […]
Why Just Thinking Positive Thoughts Is Not Enough
If I had a dollar for every time during my fight with depression that I thought, “Don’t tell me to just think positively! It doesn’t work!,” I would have a lot of extra cash!! The fact is, I was right and wrong with this belief. I was correct in believing that just thinking positively […]
Subconscious Programming And Forgiving Myself
Today (July 2015) I discovered something very interesting. I learned that there has been some subconscious programming going on inside of me. What is fascinating is that consciously I did not believe this programming–in fact, I have been extremely conscious of why I fought depression for a dozen years. So to learn that there has […]
It’s Not Mine — MIND KEY
Somewhere at about the halfway point in my journey with depression, I realized that I should probably stop referring to the depression as “mine.” I’m not sure where this idea came from; it just sort of showed up. I had this strong desire to detach myself from it. It was probably around this point that […]
Does My Life Matter?
None of us are going to leave this planet alive. I know it’s obvious. But sometimes we need a reminder that the person we are today may be the legacy we leave in a few hours. My dad’s best friend passed away yesterday–very unexpectedly. He was hiking a mountain with his grandkids, sat down, […]
The CHAOS Monkey
Last Thursday began at 6:30 a.m. By 6:50 a.m. my husband and I knew the day was not going to end the way we had been planning… Saturday was our 24th wedding anniversary! We had planned a fun 2-day retreat, complete with Razor and four-wheeler fun in the desert. We had set up things […]
Asking Questions
There is no question about it: we will get more of whatever we focus on. Asking questions of ourselves can be powerful. It can actually change our lives. The two questions I asked in 2009 changed my life: “Do I really need to be on an antidepressant for the rest of my life? […]
What Labels Do You Define Yourself By?
When a person is fighting mental illness, it is easy to believe that the illness defines who they are. It is easy to believe that the label attached to the mental illness–depression, anxiety, bipolar, ADHD, OCD–is who they really are. The truth is, the person with the mental illness is, AT THEIR CORE, far […]
How Medication Can Help
I will forever be grateful that in the year 2000 when I went to my doctor and said, “I have so much to be grateful for but I feel so alone, so sad, so angry, so lost…” that he suggested that I might have clinical depression. I am grateful that he saw the signs and […]
